Entries in weapons
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As you've probably read, blueprints for the world's first 3-D printed gun, “The Liberator,” are now available online and, not surprisingly, causing quite a stir.

"The Liberator" blueprints are available at DefCad.com. For now, you need an industrial-level 3-D printer, and proper training, to create a 3-D gun. But the company that designed the printable gun wants to modify the design for use in a less-expensive hobbyist 3-D printer.

As of today, the blueprints have been downloaded more than 70,000 times, probably, as MSNBC points out, by a lot of curious people and only a few actual 3-D printer folks. But this development is already begging a lot of interesting questions: Are 3-D printed guns actually legal? (Legislation is in the works to ban all-plastic 3-D printed guns.) Are they safe? And, beyond guns, what else might be 3-D printed in the future?

Legislators are concerned that 3-D plastic guns will be too difficult to spot with metal detectors, enabling the owners to sneak them into otherwise restricted areas, like schools and airports. You might argue that the damage is already done, since the blueprints have been strewn across the Internet for all to download. But what if the future holds blueprints of bombs and even more deadly guns?